Mother claims she was evicted for inviting black family to Ga. home for playdate

July 14, 2019 at 4:32 AM CDT - Updated July 14 at 4:43 AM

GORDON COUNTY, Ga. (WSB/CNN) - A Georgia couple denies evicting their tenant because she had a black family visit her home, as the woman claims they did in a lawsuit against her former landlords.

Former tenant Victoria Sutton filed a housing discrimination claim Wednesday against landlords Allen and Patricia McCoy, alleging Sutton was evicted from her Bartow County, Ga., home after she invited a black co-worker and their family for a playdate.

Sutton claims Allen McCoy called her an “n-word lover” shortly after the co-worker left the rental home last fall. There is a recording of Patricia McCoy allegedly saying, “I don’t put up with ‘n-words’ in my house, and I don’t want them on my property.”

The McCoys deny Sutton’s claims, both of them saying some of their best friends are black. They say the tenant had to be evicted due to alleged property damage.

"Tore up the bathrooms and window sills. Had burnt carpet, had to put new carpet in and everything,” Patricia McCoy said.

Sutton refutes the property damage claim in her lawsuit. She is being represented in the case by the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.

"Part of me wasn’t shocked at all because racism is alive and well today,” said Sean Young, legal director of the ACLU of Georgia. “Racial discrimination is wrong, and whether it manifests in the form of this kind of blatant commentary or whether it happens more insidiously behind the scenes, it is wrong in every instance.”

The lawsuit also accuses the McCoys of not giving the tenant, her three young children and their father a court-ordered 60 days to move out of the home.

Sutton says the ordeal caused her to scramble for housing and rush to find school accommodations for one of her children, who has special needs.

The McCoys deny removing any belongings from the home until the 60 days ended.

WMCActionNews5.com Staff

Collectively, it was perhaps the largest one-day mobilization since Floyd died 12 days ago and came as many cities began lifting curfews that authorities imposed following initial spasms of arson, assaults and smash-and-grab raids on businesses.